Recommendations for April trip sites

[jeff968]

Well, this year the family and I will be travelling to California for our April break. We will be staying at the Marriott Newport Beach villas for a week. What sites would you suggest visiting for our trip? The wife and I have a 20yo DD, 10yo DD, and a 18yo ds. We've been to Orlando a dozen times so I'm not sure if we will visit Disneyland or Universal. We want to stay in teh LA area.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[StageTek]

You could check out the beaches - Huntington Beach and Venice
are wonderful. You could head to the mountains. The little town
of Crestline is nice and Lake Arrowhead is a popular attraction.



In the LA area there is Hollywood Blvd and the Chinese theater,
the La Brea Tar Pits and Santa Monica’s Third Street shopping area
is nice and close to the beach. Rodeo Dr. is a popular destination
as is the Sunset strip. Farmers Market, Griffith park with the
Zoo, Travel town and the Observatory and the Getty are places many
people like to visit. Old Town Pasadena in right on the Rose
Parade route - you may have seen that area on TV. Downtown Los
Angeles has a lot of sights and history - even the L.A. library is
a sight to see. There’s the Science Center with two, wonderful
museums. It’s kind of fun to wander around Forest Lawn cemetery
(Walt is buried there), Hollywood Forever and Westwood Memorial to
really see the stars. The “NoHo” arts district has theaters,
unique restaurants and vintage clothing stores.

 

[jeff968]

Thanks for the thoughts

 

[lcasa]

And don't skip Disneyland - it's very different. There are a zillion threads here going into depth on the 'which is better' argument - and I think most people come to the conclusion that it's not a better or worse question, it's just that they are very different experiences and both are worth spending time in.

Universal on the other hand - very small here compared to Orlando, and I think you could skip it.

There is a sticky in this So Cal area of the forum on 'other things to do in So Cal' -- lots of good ideas collected there.